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Family & Social Life

Donations to the Museum have preserved irreplaceable evidence about generations of ordinary Americans. Objects from the Copp household of Stonington, Connecticut, include many items used by a single family from 1740 to 1850. Other donations have brought treasured family artifacts from jewelry to prom gowns. These gifts and many others are all part of the Museum's family and social life collections.

Children's books and Sunday school lessons, tea sets and family portraits also mark the connections between members of a family and between families and the larger society. Prints, advertisements, and artifacts offer nostalgic or idealized images of family life and society in times past. And the collections include a few modern conveniences that have had profound effects on American families and social life, such as televisions, video games, and personal computers.

This domed, tin lunch box was made by Aladdin in 1968. It has two metal snaps on a hinged lid and a collapsible, yellow plastic handle. The box has a brilliant pop art design, taking the form of a sliced loaf of bread.

This domed, tin lunch box was made around 1950, but has an unknown maker. The box has two metal snaps for a hinged lid and a spiraled wire hinged handle. There is a silver design with red outlined rosettes and green outlined scallops on the lid and sides.

After the success of the IBM's business PC, IBM attempted to capture the home market with the IBM PCjr. The PCjr system was compact, low cost, and designed for applications related to learning, entertainment, and personal productivity.

The computer had an Intel 8088 microprocessor that ran at 4.77 MHz–faster than most systems on the market at the time. It 64 KB of RAM, which could be expanded to 256 KB and later to 720 KB with third party add-ons. It featured an internal 5 1/4" floppy drive and a wireless keyboard. King's Quest, a popular Adventure game of the 1980s, debuted on the PCjr.

Despite a flashy debut and a strong technology core, the PCjr flopped in the market. Consumers were not as attracted by the IBM name as business had been. Price was a major factor. The PCjr cost about the same as the Coleco Adam, but for the price, the Adam included two tape drives, a printer, and software. The PCJr was twice as expensive as the Commodore 64. With the exception of the Apple II, it was possible to purchase a complete system (computer, disk drive, and printer) from almost any of IBM's competitors for less money. However, criticism of the system focused on the "chiclet" keyboard. Similar to that of a pocket calculator, the small keys were cheap and difficult to use for touch typing. IBM later replaced this with a wireless conventional-sized keyboard. But it could only be used two or three feet away from the machine and drained batteries quickly.

Announced in November 1983 and available in March 1984, IBM sold the PCJr for $669 with 64 KB RAM, and $1,269 for 128 KB RAM. The more expensive system also included a floppy-disk drive. IBM discontinued the PCjr in March of 1985 after selling only approximately 270,000 units.

Family photograph albums hold the history of generations, preserving the memories of birthdays, holidays, travels, and all general aspects of life. African American Mary Taylor used her 35mm Bell and Howell camera to document her family's life in the black community of Los Angeles, California, during the mid-20th century. She turned a discarded wallpaper sample book into a treasured family heirloom.

Taylor's family photographs including 19th-century tintypes, turn-of-the-century hand-colored portraits, and albums from the 1950s to the 1970s provide insight into the African American experience in the United States over the past century.

The Franklin Ace 1200 was one of the Franklin Corporation models of Apple II clones made for sale in the United States. It was an upgrade of the Franklin 1000. It was compatible with Apple II computers, but could also run the CP/M operating system.

The Franklin ACE 1200 had a MOS/Commodore 3502 microprocessor that ran at 1 MHz. It contained 48 KB of RAM and 16 KB of ROM and dual 5 ¼" floppy drives. The Ace 1200 came out between Apple II+ and the Apple //e. It included a CP/M card, a disk controller card, an 80 column card, and a dual serial/parallel card that was software interchangeable. The printer card caused problems because many applications did not recognize it.

The Franklin Ace 1200 was introduced in 1983 for the price of $2,200. The Franklin series was ended after Franklin lost a legal battle with Apple.

The Nintendo Game Boy was released in 1989. It was a handheld video game console that combined aspects of Nintendos successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) television video game console with their earlier handheld electronic games marketed under the name "Game & Watch." It contained an 8-bit Z80 processor with a monochrome LCD display and 4-channel stereo sound. Shortly after the introduction of the Game Boy, Sega and Atari released handheld games, the Sega Game Gear and the Atari Lynx. Both had superior color LCD displays but both also suffered from short battery life and limited game availability. The Game Boy has continued to be the most popular handheld video game console ever released in the U.S. Today, the display is in color and is sold under the name Game Boy Advance.

All original Game Boys were bundled with Tetris, an addictive game developed in 1985 by Russian mathematician Alexey Pazhitnov, assisted by Dmitry Pavlovsky and Vadim Gerasimov. As with the NES, game software was stored on removable cartridges, allowing users to switch games at whim. Nintendo also marketed a number of accessories with this version of the Game Boy, including a camera and printer attachment.

This steel lunch box was manufactured by Aladdin in 1970. It has a metal snap for hinged lid and collapsible white plastic handle. The lunch box was made for sale in Mexico, and touts the benefits of fresh milk (leche fresca). The box is blue and gray with cartoon images of cows and people.

This plastic and glass thermos bottle was made by Aladdin in 1970. It has a screw-on blue plastic cup lid with handle and white plastic stopper. The thermos is blue and white with cartoons of cows and people. The thermos touts the benefits of “leche fresca,” or fresh milk, saying that “it will make you like a bull.”

This top-opening square metal lunch box was made by Aladdin Industries in 1958. It has a metal snap for hinged lid and a hinged peach plastic handle. The lunch box has a peach and beige faux basket weave pattern lithographed on exterior, while the interior has white butterfly pattern on peach field.

This metal, glass and plastic thermos bottle was made by Aladdin Industries in 1958. It has a screw-on peach plastic cup with handle and red plastic stopper. The thermos has a peach and beige faux basket weave pattern.